Fill in the blanks: With a __________ and a ________ you will never be lonely or bored. I am sure you can find a wealth of words to use but we can start with ‘camera’ and ‘an interest in nature’. With a camera and an interest in nature you will never be lonely or bored.
I learnt this valuable life lesson from my extended family, some of who spent all their time visiting remote places to capture pictures of flora and fauna. One cousin took the photos and another uncle developed and printed the film. I was allowed into the dark room to help and thus began my interest in taking photos. Later, I learnt how to develop my own black and white film – back in the days when we still had film.
It’s a luxury to be able to take as many photos as I want with my phone camera. The problem lies in removing the duds and duplicates. This is however a good task during a heatwave, when the only other engaging activity is drinking plenty of iced water.
These photos are from our walk in Kew Gardens on what was then the hottest day in May since 1944. We went into the Princess of Wales Conservatory to keep out of the sun, but it was equally hot inside temperature-wise. The record was broken again yesterday when it recorded 35.1 C, also in Kew Gardens.
Pelargonium ‘Pinkerbell’
Limonium spectabile
Pelargonium ‘Prince of Orange’
Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia genus)
Alocasia (Elephant Ear)
A flowering Aeonium
Passiflora (Passionflowers)
Strongylodon macrobotrys (Jade Vine)
In the next post I will share photos of some of the outdoor trees and flowers we saw during our walk in Kew.